Health exchange bill gets first-round approval in Senate

Republican Sen. Shawn Mitchell said it would put “a ring in our nose” tied to the heavy hand of the federal government, but the Colorado Senate today still gave initial approval to a bill that would create a health insurance exchange.

Health care reforms passed by Congress last year require states to set up the exchanges by 2014, or the federal government will step in and do it for them.

Initially, the exchanges would be open only to individuals and to businesses with fewer than 100 employees. The idea is that individuals and businesses could band together to create large risk pools and get better prices and health care options the way big companies now negotiate for health insurance.

Importantly, though, the exchanges also could allow individuals to determine whether they qualify for insurance subsidies or Medicaid.

Business groups have united behind the legislation with non-profits, hospitals, doctors and other health care providers joining together to support the measure.

Mitchell, though, said the bill was simply the first step toward getting states to drop their resistance to a universal, single-payer health care system.

“What this bill represents is the false promise that this time a government program will make it better, not worse,” he said. “Government is running health care in America, and it’s doing it badly.”

Mitchell offered an amendment, similar to the one Stephens first supported, that would require the governor to seek a waiver from the federal government within 60 days of the bill’s passage to opt the state out of the federal health care law. Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has said he would not seek such a waiver.

The amendment failed, as did another from Mitchell that would have barred the state from receiving federal grant money to help set up the exchanges.

“We know that federal dollars do not come without strings,” Mitchell said. “Money brings leverage. It brings a ring in our nose.”

But Boyd said she didn’t know how the exchanges would be set up without the federal grant money.

“I see this bill not as the government stepping in but as providing the opportunity for those people who are currently uninsured to have another avenue to find that insurance,” Boyd said. “It’s a good bill for Coloradans created by Coloradans.”

The Democratic-led Senate approved the bill on a voice vote, and must OK it once more on a recorded vote before it can move to the Republican-controlled House, where it may face stiff opposition.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.